Staying in touch with kin goes high-tech

April 25, 2006|ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ Knight Ridder Newspapers

Attorney Manny Rodriguez doesn't visit his family and friends as much as he would like. Between his high-pressure job and the hour-long commute between his Miami Beach home and his Boca Raton, Fla., office, he doesn't have much time to socialize. But he makes good use of technology: He phones his parents in Weston, Fla., almost every day and talks to his sister almost as often. "The way we keep in touch has changed," he says. As families change and disperse, more and more Americans are using technology -- everything from e-mails to cell phones -- to preserve the bonds of intimacy with loved ones. We may not be visiting each other as much, but we're certainly talking. A Pew Research Center survey released in February showed that a growing number of adult Americans are in daily contact with their parents -- a sure sign, as researchers put it, "of the strength and resilience of family bonds in the face of sweeping changes over the past several decades in family structures and living arrangements." The Pew study showed that 42 percent of us either see or talk to a parent -- usually, it's Mom -- every day. In comparison, 32 percent of adults maintained such daily contact in 1989, when a Gallup survey asked the same question. In an age where phone communications are relatively easy and cheap, the Pew survey also found:

73 percent of respondents say they speak every day with a family member who doesn't live in their house.

72 percent say they are very satisfied with their family life, compared with 32 percent who are very satisfied with their household income, 42 percent with their standard of living and 63 percent with their housing situation.

65 percent of respondents live within an hour's drive of their parents.

45 percent of respondents named a family member as the first person they would turn to for advice other than a spouse. Only 22 percent named a friend, neighbor or co-worker.